Imitation
by aspiringTechGuy1617
Summary: Relations among the new Justice League are rocky at best in the wake of a humiliating defeat. The new generation of Flash and Green Lantern struggle to find their place beside the world's heroes. Worse yet, an advance agent has infiltrated the team, posing as a key member. In a downward spiral, this invasion threatens to tear them apart, one member at a time... from the inside out.


**(A/N): Hey guys!**

**As promised, I'm working on this story behind the scenes and will release it in full when it's complete. However, I've got this first part the way that I want it, so I figured I'd post it as sort of a preview of what's to come. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, I published a story called "Copy and Replace" a while back and decided to discontinue it after a bout of writer's block.**

**Well, that's all cleared up and I'm ready to move forward with this story. The plot's solid and the process is well underway so hopefully it'd be good. But I wanted to release this here today to a) show you that I'm actually working on it and not just blowing the project off, and b) to clean up the ending of CaR and sort of do it the way that it ****_should_**** have been done.**

**That said, this is a retelling of the events that followed the conclusion of the Weapon's Master battle. This is where the story was originally supposed to start, but I wanted to try writing an action scene so I wrote the battle out. Anyway, I'm counting that as a prequel and looking at this as the main plot. Hope you enjoy!**

**I do not own DC Comics and all that blah blah-**

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"In case you haven't picked up on this yet, my name's Wally! Look, don't tell anyone this, but I'm secretly The Flash. You know, that red wearing, speedster stud that's been riding with the JL o' A these past couple of days? I haven't been playing the solo hero game for that long, but for some reason they thought it'd be a good idea to draft me into their all-star team of crimefighters semi-permanently.

Sadly, I don't know how much longer they'll continue to look at it as a good idea. I just went on my first real mission tonight and… well… I kind of blew it. Well, not _just_ me, but definitely a big chunk of the blame is on me. It's just that this stupid Kyle kid that somehow bribed fate into giving him a Green Lantern ring kept egging me on all week. I would have done anything to shut him up. So I kinda overstepped my bounds and… well… here I am sitting here – aching, bleeding, and talking to you despite your apparent inability to talk back. But I like you. Even if you don't say much, I feel like you and I understand each other. We could be bros, given time. I guess I can see what Linda sees in you.

*sigh* ...can you at least look at me maybe? Just one time?

No? Fine… be that way."

Wally got up in a frustrated huff and stormed off to the bathroom to get more cotton balls. The kitten lounging on the couch continued to lick in between the claws of his left paw – aloof to the redhead's rambling.

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The Batwing tore through the (previously) quiet night air over the barren wasteland bordering Gotham's city limit. Its engines let out a loud bang then decrescendoed into silence as the sleek, black jet landed.

Its pilot, the famed Dark Knight, dropped out of it with a heavy thud. For a couple of seconds after landing, he just stood in place – gritting his teeth and gripping the left side of his ribs with his right hand. A maroon stain was slowly expanding across the dark gray fabric of his costume underneath the spot where his hand sat.

Inhaling as deeply as the pain would allow, he began walking forward. He made a mental note to check himself for a punctured lung later. Thud after thud followed him as he limped toward the mouth of a cave which was concealed by a large waterfall. Hidden within the hidden cave, was the entrance to his personal headquarters – 'the Batcave' as his first sidekick liked to call it. Two protégées later, and the name stuck. Batman, his butler Alfred, his current ward Tim Drake, and his only surviving former partners Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon were the only human beings that he had allowed to enter the cave up to this point. Its secretive status was aggressively protected by all five.

Wading waist deep in the frigid water, the vigilante continued his forward momentum as he braced for ducking under the waterfall. The sensation of the cascading water on his wounded body would undoubtedly be very painful… perhaps the worst part of his journey so far. But he was nearly at the entrance.

All of a sudden, a strange feeling became apparent to Batman in the back of his mind. It wasn't quite a physical feeling (anything like that would quickly be overshadowed by the throbbing ache he had been feeling since leaving the battle), it was more on a _psychological _level. It started like a freshly lit candle – a little dot of light who's radiance can barely been seen for the first second or two of existence. Yet it rapidly grows in size and brightness until a full-fledged flame sits on the candle's wick. That was what Batman felt with this sensation as it seemed to envelop his mind, dropping it into something of a stupor.

He shook his head vigorously – thinking he was merely getting dizzy from blood loss. However, it became more and more certain that this was more than that – enough to cause Batman to become… concerned… He quickened his pace, cringing at the temperature of the waterfall's water as well as the escalated pain from its force on his body. Feeling more out of it than ever as he crawled out of the stream, he tried to remember where he felt something like this before.

In truth, he hadn't. A relatively young man in his early 30s, he hadn't experienced any cerebral health issues in the past to his recollection. However, he did pinpoint one time where he felt something similar. The one time that he had allowed the Martian Manhunter to read his mind.

Yes, the connection to that event became more and clearer as he dwelt on the memory as he staggered deeper into the mouth of the cave. It happened a short time after he lost his second protégée, Jason Todd. Due to his own perceived mistake, the boy had been kidnapped, brutally beaten, then killed by his adversary the Joker. The distraught Batman felt over the loss took him out of commission for days. Blaming himself 100%, he had a hard time coping on his own. Out of deep concern for his teammate, J'onn J'onzz, the Manhunter from Mars, offered to provide counsel for the ailing man by psychically linking into his thoughts and helping him sort out the feelings. Under normal circumstances, Bruce Wayne would have shot down the idea – refusing to open up even if it was to his most trusted allies. However, the grief had broken him… he was in such a state that no other option seemed preferable.

When J'onn sat down with him, he described the experience as a house visit. The Martian would begin to send telepathic "requests" or "knocks" at Batman's mental "door". When Bruce had found sufficient courage, he was to accept the "requests" and invite J'onn in to read his mind. The Martian was adamant that he would not force his way into Bruce's thoughts any further than he had permission. When the process began, Bruce remembered it feeling like a tingle: not a physical feeling, but more of a _psychological_ touch. Like a candle being lit in his mind.

In his current state, as he began losing all touch with the reality in front of him, Batman noted that this sensation he currently had felt incredibly similar to J'onn's mental probe. The biggest difference was the lack of courtesy that this feeling came with. It was not requesting to enter his mind, it was barging its way in with a battering ram. And Bruce definitely was not inviting it.

The intensity was beginning to reach a point where he felt that he losing his ability to function. Dropping to one knee right in front of the entry panel to open the concealed door of the Batcave, he had neither the strength nor the mental motivation to raise his head to even look at it. A numbness made its way through his sensory system as consciousness rapidly left him. Collapsing the rest of the way onto the damp, cold cave ground, he barely made out a collection of spindly figures standing over him in a semi-circle.

And as the one closest to his face bent down to reach him, two red orbs glowed brightly – marked by an angry intensity.

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**Hope you liked :J Keep an eye out for the rest hopefully around January.**


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